The climate legacy of a pope and a patriarch
The death of Pope Francis and an award for the Orthodox church leader bring praise for the holy men鈥檚 promotion of a spiritual dimension to climate issues.
Pope Francis speaks at a conference with religious leaders in an appeal to governments to commit to ambitious climate targets, at the Vatican, Oct. 4, 2021.
AP
This year鈥檚 global celebration of Earth Day on April 22 had both sadness and celebration hanging over it. The sadness was that one of the world鈥檚 religious leaders who helped put a spiritual dimension into climate activism, Pope Francis, died on Monday. Among the many celebratory tributes to him was widespread praise for his missives citing a love of God and others 鈥� rather than fear 鈥� as the basis for stewardship of Earth鈥檚 atmosphere.
Just days before his death, another fellow global church leader was celebrated. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of 300 million Eastern Orthodox 海角大神s, won this year鈥檚 Templeton Prize. He was cited for his decades of work in promoting 鈥渁 compelling moral and theological vision of humanity鈥檚 responsibility to care for the Earth,鈥� as the John Templeton Foundation put it.
Bartholomew has been instrumental in bringing leaders of many faiths together to agree on ethical and spiritual reasons for shifting the human relationship with physical nature to one based on concepts of harmony. In 2021, for example, the heads of the Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican churches issued a joint message calling for the protection of nature, or what Bartholomew calls 鈥渢he beauty and integrity of God鈥檚 creation.鈥�
鈥淓cology is not a political or economic issue. It is mainly a spiritual and religious issue because God created and gave it to us to protect it, to cultivate it, to use it, but not to abuse it,鈥� he told the foundation.
Many of the faith decrees on climate have pointed to a need to go beyond technological solutions. 鈥淪cience alone cannot save the planet,鈥� Bartholomew said in 2015. 鈥淪cience will inform us about the world, but it cannot reach the depths of our soul and mind.鈥�
Both he and Francis regularly pointed to spiritual solutions for individual greed and other forms of self-centeredness that lie behind environmental loss.
In particular, Francis sought to instill joy into climate activism. 鈥淟et us sing as we go. May our struggles and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope,鈥� he wrote.
They each found it easy to work across theological divides and develop common doctrine for climate action. 鈥淭he earth unites us in a unique and extraordinary manner,鈥� wrote Bartholomew in 2015 for Time.
And so, too, does Earth Day, now in its 55th year of celebration.